The best things to do in Sydney this weekend

Picture this: you’re nestled in a cosy private igloo decked out with fairy lights, gazing over Sydney’s breathtaking city skyline. A raclette grill awaits you at your table, while French waiters bring you mugs of spiced mulled wine. Beside your igloo, a warming fire pit beckons, complete with marshmallows just waiting to be toasted.  This is Raclette Igloo Experience, a new French foodie experience bringing the charm of a French ski resort atmosphere to Broadway Sydney Rooftop from June 29 to July 28.   Gather your pals or the whole family to enjoy the intimacy of your very own private igloo and get ready to make some memories. Each igloo can fit six to eight people but don’t worry, there’s enough cheese to go around – we’re talking 200g per person, imported directly from France. This French tradition involves melting raclette to perfection under a grill. Whether you prefer it gooey or with a golden crust, scrape it on top of cheese-friendly sides including potatoes, pickles and charcuterie and savour every mouthful. Once you've had your fill, head out to do some stargazing or gather around your very own fire pit to share some stories. You’ll find plenty of wood to stoke the fire and one skewer per person filled with giant marshmallows. From the moment you walk through the falling snow at the entrance, every bit of this authentic experience is sure to be a winter fairytale, complete with magical lights, chalet vibes and a unique French dining experience. Prices start from $99

From the iconic initial beats of “Pop, Six, Squish…” to the flash and flummox of lines like “Give 'em the old razzle dazzle” – the sassy, sleazy charm of Chicago is undeniable. Kander and Ebb’s 1975 mega-hit is one of those shows that has become part of the fabric of our collective culture, a timeless call-back for anyone who has ever struck a pose on a rickety chair while wearing an imaginary bowler hat, or day-dreamed a (strictly imaginary) bloody revenge fantasy, and all that jazz.  Australia’s latest tour of this jazz-era spectacle of seductive murderesses, greed, corruption and the fickle nature of tabloid infamy struts into Sydney’s lush Capitol Theatre after doing time in Perth and Melbourne. Under the direction of Karen Johnson Mortimer, this staging of Walter Bobbie’s six-time Tony-Award-winning, stripped-back 1996 Broadway revival (the second-longest running show on Broadway) comes a mere six years after it toured Down Under in 2019. Producers Crossroads Live presumably made a safe bet that this show is a surefire seat-filler (and they’d be right). Or, as one pinstripe-wearing Billy Flynn might say: “Give ‘em an act with lots of flash in it, and the reaction will be passionate…” But with the memory of Casey Donovan’s brilliant performance as Matron Mama Morton and Natalie Bassingthwaighte’s delightfully deranged Roxie Hart being so fresh for Aussie theatregoers, many die-hard musical theatre fans are understandably hesitant to splash out on a ticket this time around

Something that Vivid Sydney has proven year after year: bright lights will bring people out on winter nights, which is why we're thrilled about the return of this regional festival held on the banks of the beautiful Murray River. The NSW/Vic border community of Echuca Moama is throwing a magical night fest, Moama Lights – and it's set to be pretty magical. Running from July 5-28 (across Thursday to Sunday nights), Moama Lights is an immersive sound and light trail comprising state-of-the-art installations, projections and cutting-edge moving light technology.  This year's theme is Enchanted Nights: A Celebration of Light, and it will honour the captivating beauty of Horseshoe Lagoon and the surrounding bushland. Using Banjo Paterson's evocative poem 'The Daylight is Dying' as inspiration, the trail will shine a light (quite literally) on the elements of nature that come to life when the sun sets. Visitors can expect to see illuminated ripples on the lagoon's surface, projections of children's art, glowing red gums and incredible indigenous works by First Nations artists Warrick Keen and Alkina Edwards. Also returning is the ice skating rink and the American Hotel beer garden, where you can load up on hearty food and drink options. There will also be additional food trucks and kids' entertainment. Tickets are on sale now for this glowing wonderland, you can book them via the website. Want to be the first to know about what's on in Sydney? Sign up for our free Time Out Sydney

More than ten years since its premiere, this spectacularly saucy cabaret show – from the talented people who brought us the brilliantly outrageous Blanc de Blanc – is back on the Sydney stage. Popping up at The Grand Electric, Limbo The Return will feature a seductive mix of cabaret, circus and acrobatics, performed with a heart-pounding soundtrack and reality-altering lighting. The international cast features Bulgarian aerialist Maria Moncheva (Harry Potter – Germany), slack rope daredevil David Marco and fire-eating singer Clara Fable.The creators of the show, Strut and Fret originally put together an internationally renowned show called Limbo, which gained fans across the world (including Madonna, who went to see it twice during its London season). The follow up show – Limbo Unhinged – played at the Sydney Opera House back in 2018, and Sydney-based fans will finally be able to reconnect with the spellbinding cabaret-style performance. With the same creative team at the helm, audiences can expect a similar calibre at Limbo The Return: with wildly-impressive acrobatics, titillating circus performances and an ecstatic soundtrack. Composed by New York’s Jank maestro Sxip Shirey, the live music – described by Creative Director Scott Maidment as “a New Orleans brass bands meets the Beastie Boys on the way through Berlin, looking for a house party,” – is one of the main drawcards of this year’s show.  Set in an imaginary space between heaven and hell (hence the name), Limbo The R

The Hunter Valley gets cold in winter. Real cold. Come mid-year, temperatures in one of New South Wales’ most popular wine country destinations drop to the single digits. What’s worse than feeling the bite in the air is when you’re not even compensated with piles of fluffy snow for your troubles.  The Hunter Valley Gardens took matters into their own hands and for one month and one month only, have created a spectacle of a winter wonderland for the whole family. The botanical venue already takes the cake for the largest Christmas light display in the Southern Hemisphere so expect nothing short of magnificent for their ‘Christmas in July’, if you will.  In terms of the kids (and kids-at-heart) burning off some steam, there will be a mega snow play zone for snowman building and snow angel making, a 45-metre ice slide toboggan, and an ice skating rink. For the little artists, a craft area will be housed in the Igloo Marquee and roaming mascots will be performing and taking super cool photos with visitors (mind the pun).  When you’re ready to thaw out, you can step away from the chilly action and grab a bite to eat from the food stalls dishing up all the fan favourites, from woodfired pizzas and burgers, to souvlaki plates and dumplings. For dessert, load up on warm doughnuts, crepes and ice snow cones. Who said chilly treats are only for summertime? To keep the fun times rolling, the Hunter Valley Gardens will still be operating their permanent rides, like the teacups, carousel,

If you can’t quite hack the requisite international airfare and/or annual leave to explore the Amazon, meet polar bears, or go deep sea diving right now, there is another method for getting up close and personal with some of the world’s most incredible animals.  For the 59th year in a row, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will arrive in Sydney on loan from London’s Natural History Museum. Taking root at the National Maritime Museum, this stunning collection of photographs will be on show in Sydney from Saturday, June 15 until November 2024.  This incredibly prestigious photography event is centred on drawing attention to the wild beauty and fragility of the natural world. This year, judges had to look at nearly 50,000 entries from a line-up of professional and amateur photographers across 95 countries, being faced with the near-impossible task of whittling these down to just over 100 photo finalists. The images that made this year’s exhibition shine a light on the strain that our natural environment is under as a result of human intervention, and capture mesmerising snapshots of fascinating animal behaviour, stunning secret moments in the hearts of the world’s most unreachable places.The prestigious Grand Title this year went to French photographer Laurent Ballesta, whose surreal image of a golden horseshoe crab has earned him the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year for the second time. So, if you are in the mood to escape reality, dive into strange an

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a fussy, fastidious man is left slack-jawed and shocked when his wife up and leaves him, taking the kids with her. He moves in with his best friend, a slovenly, obnoxious guy. Lifestyles clash, and hijinks ensue. It’s The Odd Couple, of course – legendary playwright Neil Simon’s famously wry tale of male friendship and fallibility. First staged in 1965, it quickly became a feature film in 1968, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Then, the first of four TV series went to air in 1970, with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as the bickering bros. It’s a cultural touchstone, having been through countless variations in multiple media, but always retaining its simple, singular concept. Simon himself retooled it twice, flipping the genders in 1985’s The Female Odd Couple, and updating the cultural references for 2002’s Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple. And now we have a shiny, new, but exactingly faithful production at Sydney’s Theatre Royal. As the central duo, Jacobson and McKenney are superb... This time around we have Australian comedian Shane Jacobson (of Kenny fame) and musical theatre legend (and Dancing with the Stars judge) Todd McKenney as Oscar Madison (the slob) and Felix Ungar (the fusspot), respectively. With those names on the cast list, you might think that we might be getting an Australianised take on the material – after all, Jacobson is an avatar of easygoing Aussie masculinity. (Imagine Felix and Oscar spar

Nine years on from its Broadway debut, audiences still can’t get enough of Hamilton. While theatre lovers anxiously await Sydney’s exclusive return season of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, we also have the chance to go back to where it all began. The hit hip-hop musical’s multi-Tony-Award-winning predecessor, In the Heights, has landed at the Sydney Opera House to heat things up this winter. First hitting the Broadway stage in 2008 (before it inspired the 2021 feature film), this rags-to-riches story returns to the Harbour City with gusto for the first time since 2019. A fiery fusion of poetry and passion, In the Heights is an idyllic love letter to the riches of community, cariños and carnaval! The story is simple enough: Usnavi (Ryan Gonzalez, they/them - Zombie! The Musical), a bodega owner living in the largely Latin-American neighbourhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, dreams of returning to his homeland and pines for the strong and beautiful Vanessa (Olivia Vásquez, she/her). Amongst the struggles of the day-to-day – the rising threat of gentrification, the cost of living, tighter immigration laws, and heat-induced blackouts – the news of a winning lottery ticket could change everything for the local community, catalysing dreams about what a future beyond the Heights might look like.  The only thing hotter than the Fourth of July is this show and its suave cast. Sydney’s winter chill is soon forgotten at the entrance of the Drama Theatr

It's arguable that the beautiful Sarah Bernhardt (the famous French actress) was the world’s first international celebrity, and when Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939) painted her, the posters of the painting quickly became ubiquitous in Paris, and were ripped from the streets by collectors as soon as they were pasted up. Now, the work of this art nouveau maestro is on at the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW) this winter, in a Sydney exclusive, Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau. The most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work ever seen in Australia runs through to September 22. Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau is the first exhibition of historical art presented in the Art Gallery's recently renamed Naala Badu north building, which opened at the end of 2022 as part of the Sydney Modern project. The exhibition explores his full oeuvre, drawn from the Mucha Family Collection and featuring 200 works from the artist's five-decade career, including paintings, illustrations, posters, jewellery, photographs, sculpture and even an immersive digital experience. Alongside Mucha’s work, the exhibition also features a selection of Japanese prints from the Art Gallery’s ukiyo-e collection, which were popular during Mucha’s time in Paris in the late 19th century, which influenced the art nouveau style. Plus more recent art inspired by the countercultural rediscovery of Mucha’s work. This major winter blockbuster leads AGNSW’s 2024 exhibition program, which brings the human fig

It’s imperative that you do not eat before you visit the Carriageworks Farmers Markets. You’ll want to save maximum belly space for your personal version of The Bachelorette where you decide who gets your dollars and what delicious produce gets to come home with you. Maybe you like something soupy and savoury first thing? In that case head to Bar Pho for a traditional Vietnamese start to the day. On the veggie train? Hit up Keppos St Kitchen for a falafel breakfast, or head to Food Farm for a classic bacon and egg roll.Once the hounds of your hunger have been quieted it’s time to prepare for your next meal, or seven. Stock up on artisan cheese from Leaning Oak, smoked salmon from Brilliant Foods and Sydney’s favourite sourdough from AP Bakery and brunch is sorted. You can spend a whole lot of money if you want to here, but equally you could just grab a kombucha on tap from Herbs of Life and find a chair for some of the best dog-watching in the city.   Hungry for more? Look at our list of the best markets in Sydney – produce or otherwise.